Sen. Charles Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) claim Monday that climate change legislation will be a floor amendment to a narrower energy package has prompted instant fear among liberal activists who say the strategy deals a harsh blow to the climate bill’s prospects.

Climate advocates worry that winning a vote on a global warming amendment is tougher than corralling 60 votes for a broad package that already includes greenhouse gas provisions authored by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.).

“Kerry and Lieberman would need 60 votes to pass their amendment, in all likelihood. While it was unclear if they could get cloture for their weakened version of a cap and trade bill, there’s almost no chance they get it as an amendment,” writes David Dayen at the liberal blog Firedoglake.

The president expressed optimism that Gulf Coast communities will survive the economic strain of the oil leak.

No coastal area or beach may be left unaffected by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a key Florida senator said Monday.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D) asserted that worst-case scenarios could see oil wash all the way up the East Coast, contrasting assertions by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) that coastlines are relatively clear in his state right now.

"The worst news is going to be that if they don't get the well cap capped and it gushes all summer, it's going to fill up the Gulf and there's not going to be anybody's beach that's going to be spared, including the East Coast of the United States when it gets in the loop current and goes around the keys and up the East Coast," Nelson said this morning during an appearance on CNN.

The ad combines images of BP's gushing well with claims that Republicans are trying to "gut" the Clean Air Act.

A proposed measure to address climate change is likely to be offered as an amendment to an energy bill Democrats have drafted in the Senate, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Monday.

Schumer offered details of an energy and climate change bill that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said he plans to move in July.

"Leader Reid is preparing a really good, strong bill," Schumer said Monday morning during an appearance on MSNBC, describing elements of the legislation.

Diluted oversight – at the government and corporate level – helped “set the stage” for the BP spill

The New York Times published a lengthy report Sunday that finds diffuse federal oversight of offshore drilling, and that there were similar problems among drilling companies on the Deepwater Horizon rig itself.

“Amid this tangle of overlapping authority and competing interests, no one was solely responsible for ensuring the rig’s safety, and communication was a constant challenge,” the Times reports.

The White House will use Monday to emphasize its response to the BP oil spill a day before Congress returns.

My colleague J. Taylor Rushing has a good piece on our main page about this week's big Senate fight over EPA's authority regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

The debate will center on a vote that would block the EPA from enforcing emissions rules under the Clean Air Act.

Over on our main page, my colleague Puneet Kollipara reports the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is shaking up a hotly contested Senate race in Missouri.